Homeless Addicts in Oregon Find Aid in Restoring Lives

By TIMOTHY EGAN, Special to the New York Times

Published: December 22, 1988

PORTLAND, Ore.—
When city officials here proposed putting homeless drug addicts and alcoholics under one roof with nothing but peer pressure to keep them clean, a chorus of skepticism could be heard all the way up the Willamette River.

Five years later, the program, begun by Mayor Bud Clark of Portland, has a demonstrated record of success in aiding a category of homeless people often considered beyond hope or rehabilitation.

A recent study by the city has found that about a third of all residents leave the program with a job, and 60 percent leave free of their chemical dependency.

The program has attracted the attention of officials in New York and San Francisco, among other cities. A representative of the Port Authority of New York and New Jersey recently visited Portland in search of solutions to the problem of homeless people sleeping in bus and train stations. San Francisco, meanwhile, adopted parts of the Portland program after looking at what the city had done.

The first step in the program is offering alcoholics and drug abusers a room in a residential hotel for up to six months on one condition: that they stay off drugs and alcohol. With the housing as an anchor, the program provides intensive counseling and therapy for up to 200 people a year, many of them addicted to both alcohol and crack, the smokable form of cocaine.

Recently all 29 residents of the Everett Hotel, one of three hotels in the program, were given surprise urine tests, and all 29 were found to be free of drugs and alcohol.

It is not as if there are no temptations nearby. A tavern and a liquor store are on the first floor of the three-story hotel. The public pay phone in front of the building is a conduit for drug deals around the clock.

A study by Portland State University showed that six months after leaving the Everett Hotel nearly half those surveyed had stayed clean. While researchers have not yet followed the Portland program over a longer time, they are heartened by the short-term results. Studies of similar treatment programs that do not include housing have found that only 10 to 15 percent of those involved succeed in staying free of drugs and alcohol.

''What Portland has done is very unique,'' said Rita Schwartz, who has been examining homelessness in various cities in a study for the Port Authority.

Portland is a city that has always prided itself on doing things differently and its Mayor, a former tavern owner, took a novel approach to the problem of the city's homeless when he was elected to his first term five years ago. 'Impressive Success Story'

''It's a very impressive success story,'' said Sandra Anderson, a sociology professor who conducted the Portland State study. ''Compared to the revolving door of detox, I think this is a real answer.''

What makes the program work, she said, is that street people have a place to live while fighting their addiction. ''It's just impossible to stay clean and sober when you don't have a home,'' she said.

''Alcoholics and drug addicts are not motivated to change,'' said Kasey Thomas, a program manager at the Burnside Projects, a private social service agency through which the city's program operates. ''They are tired. We give them safe, clean housing and then start to focus on their addiction.''

Vicki Cagle, who is five months' pregnant, has also gone five months without a drink. The 21-year-old woman has been homeless since she was 14, living at a variety of shelters.

Besides giving her a place to live, the Everett has given her the peace of mind that she needs to plan her future. She intends to give up her baby for adoption and is taking classes in accounting and word processing.

As one of eight women in the 29-unit hotel, she is a member of the tenant council that helps to make basic decisions about the temporary home.

''I've never been in a place like this,'' she said. ''They give you responsibility but they also give you enough slack so you aren't stressed out. People mesh because we all have the same problem.'' Up to 3,000 Homeless

Although exact numbers are hard to come by, there are 2,000 to 3,000 homeless people in Portland, said Daniel Steffey, an assistant to Mayor Clark. Up to a third may have drug and alcohol problems, city officials say. This estimate is in line with the findings of a 26-city survey by the United States Conference of Mayors that 35 percent of the homeless are substance abusers.

When homeless people first come in contact with the city's relief system, whether they are seeking a cot for the night, a meal or 24-hour detoxification program, they are assessed for long-term treatment.

''It's like a clearinghouse approach,'' said Donna Schaeffer, a program director at the Burnside Projects.

Alcoholics and drug addicts are given the option of entering the housing program, but they must agree to certain conditions: a three- to four-day stay at a detoxification center, regular sessions with counselors and group therapy similar to Alcoholics Anonymous, and taking urine tests to prove that they are free of drugs and alcohol. 'A Kind of Oasis'

''The idea was to create a kind of oasis, an alcohol-free environment, in this community,'' said Ms. Schaeffer.

Some critics, including members of the business community here, say that Portland has been too benevolent and that the program has been a magnet for homeless people from out of state. But records show that 75 percent of the people treated here come from the Portland metropolitan area.

Compared with the cost that a homeless drug addict or alcoholic may inflict on a community's social service system, the Portland program is a bargain, according to Professor Anderson's study.

''In terms of getting something for your buck, this is very inexpensive,'' Professor Anderson said. The average cost for a stay in the Everett Hotel, including counseling, is $165 a month, a figure that Professor Anderson said represented a ''remarkable savings'' over what it would cost for that person to go through detoxification sessions time and time again.

The program, including the housing, costs $220,000 a year, which is paid for by a mix of city, state, Federal and private funds.

''We run this whole operation on almost no money,'' said Joseph Garrow, a housing specialist who works for the Burnside Projects. ''Can you imagine what we could do if we had any money? It's so practical.'' There is a waiting list to get into the residential hotels here. A man who gave his name as Calvin, age 52, was just moving into his new room at the Everett one recent day.

Calvin has been homeless for five years, traveling to Miami, Salt Lake City, Denver and other locations. His room at the Everett is the first place he has been able to call home, however temporarily, in all those years.